Hurriyat strike hits normal life in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Normal life in Kashmir was today disrupted following a strike call given by separatists to protest against the landing of army in the Valley on this day in 1947 to repulse the invasion by Pakistan.

Shops and other business establishments like petrol pumps and private offices remained closed, while only skeletal transport services were plying the roads in the city, officials said.

The attendance in government offices was also thin due to non-availability of regular transport facilities, they said.

Reports of shutdown were also received from other district headquarters of the Valley.

However, shops were open in suburbs of Srinagar city and interior areas of localities and villages across the Valley, the officials said.

Hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani had called for a general strike to protest against landing of Army in Kashmir on October 27, 1947.

The Army had launched an operation, a day after the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh, signed the instrument of accession with the Union of India, to repulse tribal raiders from Pakistan from the region.

The separatist outfits have been calling for a strike on this day every year since eruption of militancy in the state in 1989.